Contrary to the “fake news” being peddled by some saying that tourist arrivals to the Philippines has fallen, facts from the Department of Tourism has reported a 19% surge in tourist arrivals in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2016.
A big chunk of which are from China and other Asian countries such as South Korea which account for 60% of total foreign tourist arrivals in the first half of 2017. Data from its website (http://www.tourism.gov.ph/pages/industryperformance.aspx), shows the following:
“The Korean market supplied 128,691 arrivals, registering an impressive growth of 35.84% vis-à-vis its arrivals of 94,736 in May last year. Since January, this market has been producing more than 100,000 visitors in a single month, still making this market the major source of visitors to the country. USA placed second with its arrival contribution of 83,056, up by 12.78%.
China followed with 73,649 visitor count, with an escalating growth of 57.29% compared to its volume of 46,825 in May 2016. Japan provided 44,696 arrivals with an increase of 13.38% from its arrivals of 39,422 for the same period last year. Taiwan reclaimed the fifth spot from Australia by contributing 22,429 arrivals, 23.67% higher than its visitor count in May last year. It could be noted that all top five markets recorded double-digit gains.”
The data clearly shows that the Chinese tourists have begun to arrive, countering the assertion that these mainlanders are not responding to the government’s overtures.
You will recall that we lost a significant number of these tourists, and a lot of our export market for bananas when we insisted on pushing the Arbitral ruling in the Hague against China.
Beyond the politics, however, the surge in arrivals begs us to ask a more important question: Where do these tourists go, if we may ask? Obviously, the usual suspects are worth mentioning: Boracay through the new Caticlan Airport and Kalibo with direct flights from Japan, the Chinese and Korean mainland. Even Puerto Princesa and Laoag have upgraded airports already receiving charter lfights with planeloads of tourists.
The Ilocano city has already hosted several international cruise ships this year offering a slice of the historic ilocos region that, with its cuisine and Churches and world heritage level historical districts, are a good draw for Asian tourists unfamiliar with Spanish colonial rule.
Cebu has a larger volume of flights , and in particular has about 6-7 direct flights a day from Korea alone- from Jeju, Incheon, Busan and even Taegu on about 5-6 different airlines, including legacy carrier Korean Air.
This, on top of the daily Hongkong and Tokyo flights. This island will eventually play host to thousands more tourists from China and Russia, since this is the nearest resort- filled tropical island city it can enjoy.
If they are going to all these places, why not Davao?
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